Roses Are Red and Dandelions are Blue
by TheBlueBunneh
Summary: When Karkat wakes up in a strange underground room, he is faced with a demonic-like female whom forcing him to play a game that would pit him against his friends unlike any other. To escape the Labyrinth trolls and humans alike must both work together, yet against each other in a game of trials and extremely strict rules with severe punishments to those who break them...
1. CHAPTER 1 - THE ROSE

**CHAPTER 1****  
****THE ROSE**

"OKAY SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK GUYS!"

Karkat screamed into the pure darkness in utter frustration. This was most certainly NOT funny in anyway possible way, and when Sollux or one of the others decided to show their faces again he would seriously kick their asses. Big fat gleaming shitholes, the lot of them.

Yet, despite the incessant curses and profanities he spat into the room of nothingness, there was not a sound. Not a single giggle from a victorious troll having bested him in a prank-off, not a laugh of superiority or even a sigh of dissatisfaction. Karkat's screams were the only sound and after a while even those died down. It was obviously useless to continue, and as much as the notion of unremitting anger appealed to him, even he had to admit that it would do him no good in this situation.

"ALL RIGHT. YOU GUYS WIN. VERY FUNNY. LET ME OUT NOW."

His voice, although never losing it's ill-tempered tone, became quieter. He found himself listening into the inky darkness for any sign of life other than himself.  
Nothing.

Okay, he was getting hacked off again and there really was no settling that bubbling rage beneath his bleak shell of a body. Was all this really necessary? He couldn't remember having done anything to warrent this level of pranking. Even John wouldn't go this far... At least, Karkat assumed.  
Before he was here, what was he doing?

_I WAS... _Karkat wracked his cerebrum for an answer that wouldn't come, _I WAS... OH SHIT. HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER DUMBASS? YOU'VE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR WHAT - 5 MINUTES NOW? COME ON YOU FUCKING IDIOT - WHAT WERE YOU DOING!?_

It was no use. There was no remembering. He could recall crawling out of his pod this morning, as well as slamming Gamzee's stupid ass religion with Dave at some point during the day. Oh Jegus. This had better not be some kind of fucking karma or whatever the fuck you called it in dipshit miracle town for _that_. Karkat pondered how would be the best way to kill himself if that actually proved itself to be the truth.

"You shall not remember Rose."

A voice, level sounding and very unfamiliar resonated from the shadows. Karkat spun to face the direction of the voice, but it was no good. There was nothing.

_MAYBE I'VE ACTUALLY GONE BLIND..._

A laugh.

"You have not lost your sight either Rose. Calm yourself and you shall be able to see again. The Labyrinth does not take kindly to blind anger upon meeting. It is important to make a good first impression no?"

Astonished by the absolute absurdity coming from this woman's (at least, it sounded very much like a woman) food sphincter, Karkat shook his head. Astonishment soon gave way to disgust which in turn (as it always did) gave way to anger and hatred.

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? I'M THE ONE WHO GIVES THE ORDERS AROUND HERE? HAVEN'T YOU GOTTEN THE NEWSELTTER? IT'S CALLED GET THE FUCK OUT OF KARKAT'S FACE."

There was an unbearable silence for more than a minute or two. Unsure whether to be glad or even more pissed off, Karkat was about to shout some more insults into the gloom when the female replied.

"If you would rather, I can leave you alone Rose. However, I encourage you to take my advice as it is - advice. Not an order, merely a friendly nudge perhaps? I have knowledge on your whereabouts as well as your future endeavours so I would very much like to talk to you about that face-to-face."

"THAT'S ANOTHER THING. WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME ROSE? SHE'S A HUMAN. WANT ME TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU? HOW ABOUT YOU _DON'T _MISTAKE ME FOR A LESSER RACE AND ACTUALLY FIGURE OUT MY REAL NAME!"

"Names here are meaningless Ro- Karkat. Although I may know your real name, I chose to call you Rose in tribute to the auroma radiating from your being."

"...ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. YOU'RE NOT ONLY NAMING ME AFTER A FUCKING HUMAN GIRL - BUT TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME I SMELL LIKE ROSES NOW TOO? WELL FUCKING-DONE MISS DARK AND MYSTERIOUS. FOR SOMEONE WHO'S ALL ABOUT FIRST IMPRESSIONS, YOU SURE AS HELL DON'T DO WELL ON THAT FRONT."

There was another long pause. Then, the darkness started to fade away to reveal a dimly lit, cave-like room. It was actually rather small and there really was nothing spectacular to note about it either. There were four earthy brown walls made of rock surrounding him, the one in front had a very small and almost unnoticeable pattern carved into it but otherwise - the room was uninspiring. What _really_ caught Karkat's eye was the dark profile in one corner. The silhouette of a tall slender body crouched almost fereally in the remaining shadows of the room and as these too eventually became too small to shield her - the woman approached him.

She slinked toward him like a cat might an unfamiliar prey. She held a spear in one hand and even though Karkat was sure she was capable of standing up straight, she moved in a crouched position - moving her bare feet forward as if feeling the earth beneath her in the same way a normal person might see. This, however, was not the first thing that Karkat noticed. It was not even the second. The second thing he observed was that had she not been wearing such a revealing tribal-looking costume (shorts with a long decorative fabric covering her crotch area to her knees and a tube-like material around her chest) he would probably have still had to ponder if she was a woman. The reason for this? Well, that was the first thing he noticed. The big-ass mask she wore on her face, covered in same kind of feathers she wore around her ankles and upper arms, but mostly the image of a terrifying demon. Terrifying even for Karkat's standards, although he wouldn't admit that to ANYONE.

Miss-Dark-and-Mysterious watched Karkat with a curious tilt of her head from her crouched position bellow him. After a moment of shocked stillness on his part, she spoke again, confirming it was in fact her that had been the voice from before.

"You are right Ros-...Karkat. The Labyrinth must have acknowledged your point as well. We were being incredibly rude, so it was quite natural for you to respond so crudely." The woman moved towards him slightly, tilting her head in the opposite direction, but keeping those demon-red mask eyes trained on his.

Before he could respond, she removed the mask to reveal an incredibly tattooed face. Her cheekbones and forehead where covered in similar patterns to the one on the wall - swirls and sharp looking knots. They stretched around her eyes and up to her forehead. She flicked out her long, untamed white hair that was so contrasted by her deep candy-red eyes that unnervingly matched the demon-mask's to an uncanny degree, and ran a hand through her parting. Karkat wasn't really able to say if she looked attractive or not. A more appropriate description of the strange girl would be _wild_. So incredibly and obviously wild.

"My name is Arianwyn." She told him, bowing ever so slightly. "I shall be your guide, in the Labyrinth's Game Karkat The Rose - leader of the Red Team."

All this time, Karkat realised he had been uncharacteristically silent. That frustrated him more than he would happily admit - he'd been so caught up in this girl's pace he had forgotten that he WAS the leader of the Red Team. He WAS the leader - a damn fucking good one at that!

"OKAY - AT LEAST YOU CAN SENSE WHEN SOMEONE IS SUPERIOR TO YOU. I SHALL GIVE YOU A MENTAL AND INCREDIBLY SARCASTIC ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR BEING ABLE TO DO THAT MUCH. BUT YOU STILL HAVE YET TO GRACE ME WITH THE ANSWER YOU PROMISED. WHERE. THE. FUCK. ARE. WE!?"

"I have already told you Rose. We are in-"

"THE LABYRINTH, YEAH I FUCKING GOT THAT MUCH. BUT _WHY!_?"

Arianwyn shook her head slowly.  
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that Rose. Only the Labyrinth itself knows the answer to that."

"AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING - ONE. I WOULDN'T EXACTLY CALL THIS TINY ROOM, IF YOU CAN EVEN FUCKING CALL IT THAT, A LABYRINTH. AND TWO. YOU DO REALISE HOW UNBELIEVABLY DUMB YOU SOUND BY MAKING IT SOUND LIKE IT'S ALIVE RIGHT?"

Karkat rolled his eyes, he'd really had about enough of all of this nonsense. He just wanted to either wake up or get the fuck out. Either or would be pretty fucking sweet right about now.

"Because he is Rose. The Labyrinth chooses it's players. The guide - that is, me - chooses the leader of each team. And each team must work together to escape. Only once all living members of the team have left the Labyrinth can the Game finally end. And the losers must pay the price."

Arianwyn pointed to the little red bracelet that Karkat wore on his left wrist - how the fuck hadn't he noticed that before? After taking one more moment to let that bitty monologue sink in, Karkat began to realise that this might actually be serious. It was sounding a little similar to Sgurb - two teams, Sprites (or in this case guides...) and an ultimate goal to achieve, failure resulting in a terrible "price".  
He would be lying if he said that the very idea of such a high staking and interactive game didn't spark his interest, but then again...

"AND I TAKE IT YOU'VE APPOINTED ME THE LEADER OF THE RED TEAM THEN HUH?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he lifted the red bracelet up to show he understood, "GOOD CHOICE. NOW AS LEADER, I ORDER YOU TO GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULD LISTEN TO A FUCKING WORD YOU HAVE TO SAY? I MEAN SERIOUSLY DID YOU EXPECT ME TO GIVE A FLYING SHIT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR MAGGOT SUCKING LABYRINTH AND IT'S BULGE GRUBBING GAME? WELL GUESS WHAT. I DON'T. FUCKS GIVEN TOTAL ZERO. HAVE FUN PLAYING BY YOURSELF YOU HATEFUL VOMIT GUSHERS."

The silence that rang out through the room was deafening. And not because Karkat felt particularly proud of that new string of insults, but rather because the moment he finished talking, Arianwyn had straightened up. She was significantly taller than him when she did this, looking down into his yellow eyes with an expressionless gaze. He felt himself shrink back a little, despite hating himself for it. The room seemed to take one shuddering breath, and for a moment Karkat actually believed that maybe... just maybe the stone walls really were alive.

Before he knew what was happening, Arianwyn shot her palm forward. It landed smack-bam in the middle of Karkat's forehead and along with the stinging pain came a very sudden and very horrifying vision that chilled him to the bone.  
A rainbow of blood was splashed against stone walls and everywhere Karkat looked his friends where dead. Somehow, even the humans were present, their red coloured blood mixed with his own as the young troll saw his own body slumped against a cave wall. Unmoving. Inexplicably and irrevocably dead.

The vision was gone as quickly as it had arrived. But there was no removing the sting of it's once presence.  
Breathing heavily and shuddering in horror, Karkat doubled over. He looked up at the wild, and uncaring looking woman once more.

"Was that a good enough reason Rose? The Labyrinth will be expecting you to play by his rules, or else the consequences shall be... dire."

Karkat screamed mentally to himself in frustration for being so useless. But he knew what he had to do - really, what choice did he have after seeing something like that?

"FINE. I'LL PLAY."


	2. chapter two - boy2 liike dandeliion2

**Chapter 2**

**boy2 liike dandeliion2... unfortunately**

"Wow! When I agreed to this I wasn't expecting... _you~!_"

Sollux's eyes snapped open as he felt a gentle hand grasp his lower jaw. He was met with unfamiliar blood red eyes.

The young troll couldn't decipher what race the figure in front of him was supposed to be - he had tanned skin (at least to a human extent) and black hair, pushed back and gelled in place. He wore a shirt and blazer which hung off of his broad shoulders in a dignified yet slightly dishevelled manner. The top few buttons of his shirt were left undone and he gave off a sense of 'coolness', much in the same way Dave did. However, Sollux couldn't help but feel like this being was far from human, yet he sure as hell wasn't a troll either.

Sollux was snapped out of his scrutiny when he felt a thumb brush over his bottom lip. Without hesitation he jumped back and out of the stranger's grasp. If _that_ hadn't put him on edge then he didn't know what would.

"Who the fuck are you?"  
Sol decided there wasn't much point beating around the bush.

"Oh, excuse me. How rude of me~."  
The stranger eyed the troll up and down before continuing,  
"I am your guide, Beravon." His smirk got ever wider, "I am _really_ looking forward to working with _you_, Dandelion."

That's it. This guy was nuts. Guide? Dandelion? He was making no sense what so ever!

Yet, as if Beravon could read the Gemini's mind, he sniggered.  
"You are Sollux The Dandelion - Leader of the Blue team, and I'm to help you so you can win the Game of the Labyrinth. I'm here whether you like it or not so might as well get used to me now"

"iim not the leader of any t-" Sollux began before getting interrupted.

"I'm not talking about your silly little building game." Beravon spoke as if humoured by the idiocy of a child, "There is no 'heroic' prize at the end. Just life or death. Win or it's game over for good. Your outcome will only be up to you and how well you decide to play with your little team." He continued, visibly boring _himself_ with this long monologue he was giving.

"ok."

Beravon's expression changed from boredom to a mixture of shock and confusion as he stared at the seemingly indifferent troll.

"That's it? You don't need convincing?"

"ii can hear what wiill happen iif ii don't agree. Everyone wiill diie, riight?"  
Sollux stared at the obnoxious guy in front of him with an unreadable face, giving off a sort of moody-couldn't-give-a-fuck vibe.

The frequent and - slowly getting tiresome - smirk found its way back to the lips of the none-troll-none-human man. "I'm liking you even more every second, Dandelion."

"Can you ju2t fuck off and 2top calliing me Dandeliion? ii fuckiing know you know my name so ju2t use iit already!" Sollux snapped, but Beravon's stupid grin just grew wider.

"I like Dandelion better~."  
Was his simple response, and that was the end of _that_ topic.

There was a good few minutes of silence before Sollux spoke up again, clearly feeling a little bad for snapping moments before (but also feeling like Beravon deserved it).

"Who ii2 iin my team then?"

The stylish guide pointed to a thick blue bracelet on Sol's right wrist. "All of your teammates has one of those bracelets - you'll know them when you meet them." He described cryptically.

Sollux had to pinch the bridge of his nose and breathe out heavily to keep himself calm in the presence of this absolute prick standing in front of him.

"2o you 2ay we are iin a labyriinth riight now? We ju2t have two fiind our way out? Can't we 2iimply follow the wall2?"

Beravon raised an eyebrow, once again looking amused with Sol's clear lack of knowledge,  
"You don't understand, the Labyrinth won't let you out that easily. It is ever changing and rearranging, it definitely won't be as simple as some mere... _maze_."

_...great... ju2t fuckiing great. _


	3. chapter :3 - wet cats smell like olives

***chapter :3 - wet cats smell like olives***

Feeling curiously disorientated, Nepeta took in her surroundings. She was in some sort of underground hall - lanterns hung from the ceiling yet the path stretched on into darkness.

As hard as she strained her eyes, as light as the lanterns seemed, Nepeta found she could not see much further than a few metres in front of her before the little pricks of light above her where the only visible things.

This was a bad place, and she could feel it. Her hair was standing up on end and she had the prickling sensation of goosebumps rising up and down her arms. She shivered. It wasn't cold in here - in fact it was rather warm - but it somehow seemed like an appropriate response to her unknown location.

She couldn't remember having come here, she couldn't remember much about what she'd done today at all to be honest, but somehow she was certain that given the choice she would have refused the opportunity, had it arisen, to travel to this place. It was obviously no good.

_*"well... no point in standing here without purrpose... might as well try and furrnd a way out," ac thought to herself.* _

Trying to keep an optimistic take on her situation, she started to walk forwards into the darkness. With each step, a small part of the darkness in front of her lit up, like an unexplored area in an RPG game. Her footsteps echoed off the walls, unnerving her as it was the only sound she could hear other than her beating heart thrashing wildly in her ears. She felt really alone.

Her footsteps would have gradually reached the same speed as her racing heart had she not felt like she was being watched. Judged. She forced herself to maintain a steady pace.

Finally she reached a wall. A dead end. There was nothing else to look at here. Game over.

Yet, before she turned to try walking again in the opposite direction she heard something strange coming from the seemingly ordinary dirt coloured stone wall. It sounded like... a drip. A splash maybe?

A little shadow flickered over the wall, swift and sleek in it's movements. Frowning, Nepeta moved in closer to investigate. She slowly reached out and gently touched the wall. It flickered and rippled. _Rippled_ out from around her finger.

She yelped a little and quickly pulled her hand back, a sudden and unexpected jingling weight from her left wrist making her look down. She was wearing a strange, thick looking red bracelet hanging off of her wrist. As she stared at it in confusion Nepeta caught a glimpse of the blue from her shoes and unintentionally found herself smiling a toothy grin.

_*ac giggled as she realised just how similar her fashion sense now looked to that of her friend, Sollux's.*_

Feeling oddly reassured by this thought, she decided to turn her attention back to the wall again. Another shadow flickered against... no, _through_ the "wall" but this time her cat-like senses and fast reflexes had her reaching into the rippling wall and out again in the blink of an eye.

In her paw she held a strange looking fish. It was really pretty, with kind of frilly-looking fins and a pale blue complexion. Nepeta had to bite back the temptation to eat it. Now wasn't the time or place to hunt and she would feel bad for killing such a gorgeous creature... Plus she feared how Equius might react had he find out she had hunted when she wasn't feeling particularly hungry.

She thrust the struggling fish back into the water-wall and observed her hand. It was wet. As if she had thrust her hand in and out of a river, her hand dripped with what tasted like fresh-water.

Nepeta looked back again to the path she had used to get here, and cried out in shock and surprise. Somehow, while she had been distracted, the passage she had just walked was slowly but surely closing up behind her. There was no escape, in fact, it seemed that now she had noticed it, the walls had given up with being quiet and stealthy about their imminent approach. Like someone was folding a crease in a piece of paper, the walls furthest from her started getting quicker in meeting with one another. Slamming against their opposites with great force and noise, making Nepeta jump in fright.

She pressed her hands on the walls either side her - they were definitely solid. Not like the one in front which was obviously an open portal someplace else. A wet portal.

Nepeta shuddered at the thought of jumping straight into the water. The idea horrified her to say the least. Also, what if it didn't come out anywhere? What if she drowned before she reached the end, assuming there even was one?

The slamming of the walls behind her was growing nearer and nearer while she hesitated, and all at once she realised. It was a matter of asking herself - would she rather die a quick, yet imminent death by being crushed between two stone walls, or die slowly and painfully while clinging to the smallest hope of life?

...

Self preservation really was a hard habit to kick - she'd rather go down with a sliver of hope, she decided, even if it was just that - a hope.

Nepeta jumped into the wall in front of her just as the last remaining walls closed behind her - leaving her in pitch darkness, floating in unknown and _bloody freezing _waters.

She tried to swim forwards but it was really no use, there was nothing to swim towards. She had no idea if she was moving up, down, left, right or not even moving at all. She couldn't see a damned thing and she was starting to really panic.

Just then, she felt something flicker past her cheek. Then, whatever it was flickered past her again, this time brushing against her hand.

Nepeta tried to grab for it but a small rippling in the water told her the creature had quickly alluded her grasp. Beginning to lose hope and feeling alone once again, she started feeling a little lightheaded from having held her breath for so long.

Suddenly, there it was again. The little flicker past her hand. This time, Nepeta didn't even try to reach for it. She was done struggling - it hurt to move now. Her chest was beginning to feel like it was going to explode. Yet, somehow the touch warmed her, and slowly a tiny pale blue glow started to appear in front of her.

The little fish she'd grabbed from before!

The creature stared into her eyes, the pale blue glow resonating from it's scales.

_Girl. You are not a creature of the waters. Just as I am not a creature of air. Yet... you returned me to where I belong. So now, I shall do the same for you._

The voice was beautiful inside Nepeta's head. A little squeaky perhaps, but beautiful nonetheless. Especially as it promised to save her.

The little fish turned quickly, and began to swim upwards. Nepeta managed to paddle behind her, but her strokes were clumsy and panicked. She was starting to lose consciousness at this point.

They swam for only a few seconds, but for Nepeta it seemed like an eternity of drowning. Endless and pointless struggling against what was starting to look like a peaceful and inviting death.

Then the fish abruptly stopped, and with one swift movement of it's tail, it swam back down again. Nepeta was starting to feel that maybe the little fish had been mocking her. She was still in darkness and she saw no way out of the waters. The fish kept swimming down until it's light faded, but the little troll girl didn't try to follow. She had no more fight left in her and her brain desperately needed her to...

_BREATH!_

She involuntarily took a breath of water. It filled her lungs and she started to feel her eyes grow heavy. She couldn't hold on... any longer...

The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness were the amused words,  
"You can't die yet Olive. That would be far too boring."


	4. Chapter 4 - The Hydrandea

**Chapter 4 - Round is the room in which the Hydrangea 8looms!**

Vriska was bored. It wasn't really much of a surprise as it wasn't an unusual emotion for her - everyone was being so booooooooring and laaaaaaaame!

She pushed her chair back and searched her floor for an unbroken magic 8-ball. It took her only a few questions before she was already contemplating whether to smash it right there on the spot in frustration. She decided on one more question.

"Is today going to 8e 8oring and ordinary?"  
She asked, expecting a stupid answer, but to her surprise that is not what she got.

The glass viewing port showed nothing she had seen before. Instead of the useless answers like 'Mabye', 'That depends' or anything of such nature, the words that appeared were unexpected and unique.

' ... hehe, not at all~ ;D'

Wait what?! What did that mean?

Vriska didn't have much time to contemplate the answer on the 8-ball as not long after, her vision started to fade to a blinding white. She blocked the light with her arm and closed her eyes tightly, but the it was so intense the horrible whiteness was still visible, even through her eyelid.

As quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished. The Scorpio cautiously opened her eyes to find se was no longer with her 8-ball, and her surroundings had changed drastically.

She was now in a small room with no doors or windows, the walls covered in mirrors. 8 mirrors to be precise.

Looking around frantically, Vriska could only see her eye staring back at her, painted with the same expression. Staggering up to one of the walls, she placed both hands to it, suddenly noticing the unfamiliar, thick blue bracelet jingling around on her right wrist.

Ew.  
That wasn't her style.

She grabbed the bracelet firmly with her robotic arm and attempted to pull it off... to no avail. Even with the strength of the arm, there was no pulling the bracelet off.

Without realising, she found that her heart rate had picked up quite considerably. For reasons unknown to herself, she was feeling quite intimidated by the many Vriskas reflecting back at her.

Even though she knew they were only... well... her, something felt off, as if her reflections were mocking her. She starting hearing a laugh, a cocky, familiar laugh of a woman. And, as much as she demanded, pleaded and begged, the laugh wouldn't stop. In fact it only got louder and more obnoxious.

In a flash of frustration, Vriska's fist pulled back before plummeting at one of the mirrored walls with great force, cracking into the once smooth surface. Distorting the image, it reflected into something almost unrecognisable.

The laugh stopped as her robo fist hit the mirror. Vriska laughed in triumph, but to her horror, she realised that it was the same laugh which had just frustrated her so. The mocking, obnoxious laugh was the same which had just resonated from her very own lips.

This only made her mood worse.

She slammed her fist into the mirror again, and again, and again. Punching and kicking every mirror in the room until she couldn't anymore.

Once she had exhausted herself, she realised the mirrors didn't look much like mirrors anymore, but sharp, rough surfaces, coated with cracks. Strangely though, not one single shard fell onto the floor. They all stayed perfectly in place as though reluctant to leave one another...

...That is until one single, tiny, shard fell out of the wall and onto the floor.

There was silence for a good few minutes. Vriska calmed down and sat in the middle of the room. She had no idea where she was, and no idea how she could escape. She studied the minuscule hole in the wall, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

When suddenly, an abrupt beam of light flooded the room from the hole and hit a shard opposite, this shard reflected the light, causing it to bounce in a different direction and hit another shard, then another, then another. This continued until the room was filled with thin beams of light, ignoring the mass and seemed to go right through Vriska to meet with the next wall to bounce off of. The rays felt sort of like lasers on her skin as she coward down more to the floor.

She looked up for a second, looking for any sort of sign that the radiance may end like the last one had upon her arrival, yet instead she was met with the perfect alignment of illuminated shafts forming what appeared to be... instructions.

"Hydrangea, pick away at the unstable wall."

The words almost spoke to her as they shone in her eyes, causing them to water with her Cerulean tears.

As per usual Vriska decided she would waste no time. She picked herself up and immediately set about trying to dig her fingernails into the cracks in the walls, but she couldn't flick a single shard out it. Any of them.

The sharp shards pricked holes into her fingers as she attempted her escape, causing her blue blood to trickle down her hands and into the cracks of the shattered-mirror-walls. She darted around the room, searching for the one hole in the wall in which she could dig her nails into, the room seemed to heat up with the intensity of its brightness, acting as a timer on the girl's quest.

After nearly searching all 8 walls of the octagon shaped room, she lifted her hand slightly, causing the hole room to go black as she blocked the source of its light.

She had found it at last.

She pulled and picked away at the hole, causing more and more tiny shards to fall to her feet. She soon came to realise that the walls of the room weren't covered by mirrors, but were the mirrors themselves.

She continued undeterred until, finally, she had made a space big enough for her to squeeze through.

The hole led to a dark hallway - no lights were visible except from a dimly lit room at the end of the tunnel. Striding over to check it out, she felt herself quickly re-gaining her usual confident persona.

On getting to the room, she noticed there wasn't really much to see. Just four plain walls, a plain ceiling and a plain floor. In comparison to her mirror-room she would definitely describe it as booooooooring. The only piece of furniture was a grey, dull table, and on closer inspection, she found that it wasn't empty. On it, like a sweet little fairy princess, lay a very peacefully sleeping boy. He rested on his back with his hands intertwined upon his stomach. Two orangey-yellow horns stuck out from the side of his head and his jet black mohican in-between and fallen back, out of his face. A red bracelet clasped gently onto his thin left wrist.

"Oh, look who it is!" Vriska cried, more than delighted, "Time to wake up Princess ToreaDum8ass! ::::D"


	5. cHAPTER 5,aRISAEMA LEARNS HIS FIRST RULE

**cHAPTER 5, ****aRISAEMA LEARNS HIS FIRST RULE.**

Tavros staggered out of the room of bugs.  
He could still hear the scuttling and snapping of pincers from behind the door. He leapt up and pushed his back against it, hoping against all hope that the carnivorous insects would not suddenly gain the ability to operate handles.

Yet, somehow, the sounds behind the wall-door vanished. When he turned to investigate, he discovered that the wall-door was just all wall now.

As if he wasn't already freaked out enough. To suddenly appear inside a room where tiny creatures by the million wanted to eat you... well it was just lucky that he managed to lean against the only wall that had a handle. Yet _now_ the wall was clearly just a wall again, and there was no handle to be found.

Sighing with both relief and fear, Tavros slowly turned to examine the new room he had unintentionally stumbled across. It was a really small and simple room, with one piece of furniture. A table. And upon that table, sleeping peacefully with a quiet smirk on her face as if she was dreaming something pleasant, was Vriska.

It was an odd feeling, being relieved to see her here, that much was certain. Yet, it was how Tavros felt as he mechanically manoeuvred his way over to the table. He raised a hand to her shoulder and hesitated before contact. He didn't like the idea of her being mad at him for waking her, but he supposed she'd be excited about the not-so-boring situation and location they were both in now. Also, he'd rather not be alone in this creepy underground place much longer.

"uM, vRISKA?" He croaked nervously as he shook her shoulder gently.

Nothing.

"vRISKA?" Tavros spoke up a little now, and shook her shoulder the slightest bit harder.

She didn't budge at all. In fact, it was kind of unnerving how still she was...  
The increasingly nervous troll tried to lower his ear to Vriska's mouth, trying to gauge whether or not she was breathing... But there was only so far down he could get his head before his big-ass horns got in the way. He shook her violently by both shoulders now,

"vRISKA! pLEASE WAKE UP!"

"Time to wake up Princess ToreaDum8ass! ::::D"

Nothing.

_Oh hell no. This kid 8etter not be f8cking ignor8ng me. _ Vriska thought, feeling extremely irritated already.

It never really took much to get her worked up when it came to this one - especially after the day she'd had. How selfish could you get?

So Vriska took it upon herself to wake him in what she honestly hoped was the most irritating way possible. She grabbed the sleeping troll by his collar and started smacking him around the face. Slap. Backhand. Slap.

"W8ke. The. F8ck. Up. Toreasn8re!" She growled, getting increasingly pissed off with this idiot's obvious lack of consideration towards her and her need to mock someone.

Yet he still continued to sleep on.

Vriska found herself dropping his collar in disgust. Fine. He wanted to play it that way? Then she would play the game too.

Her hands found her way to her temples and she shut her eyes as she concentrated on manipulating the sleeping Tavros. She had to force herself surprisingly hard for someone who found manipulation so easy...

Tavros had long since given up trying to wake Vriska - he had a sneaking suspicion that she was trying to pull a trick on him and he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of actually succeeding.

Not that he actually understood the point in this prank...

In fact it seemed kind of stupid in his opinion, but he resolved that the best thing to do would be to find a way out on his own - ignoring Vriska just like he'd promised Rufio in the first place.

Tavros had soon come to realise, after making this decision, that the room they were in had no exits. It was completely closed off - all the walls looked the same! He'd been searching for what seemed like hours and the silence from Vriska's end was making him feel like he was going crazy. At least half an hour in he guessed that something was up, Vriska wasn't the type to go this far for a prank - Tavros assumed she would have gotten bored long before now. An hour into the search, he was starting to feel extremely claustrophobic. He gave up shortly after the panic gave way to apathy, and was starting to believe that sooner or later he would just fall asleep too... Just like Vriska.

Then, out of nowhere, she breathed deeply, lurching forward from her sleeping position on the table.

Tavros screamed in surprise. He'd been sat in silence for so long that he honestly had not expected _that_!

"Oh hush you 8ig 8aby."

The trollian female's smirk grew wider when her eyes rested upon Tavros... yet, something seemed different about her. Tav couldn't put his finger on it.

"vRISKA, yOU, yOU SCARED ME..."

She rolled her eye theatrically.

"Of course I did Tavros, it doesn't take much now does it? May8e once you've finished being such a big ol' looooooooser we can talk a8out where-ever the hell this is?"

Tavros' expression contorted into a pout. Well now he felt silly. Vriska had only just woken up and she was still taking this a lot better than he had... Why was he such a-

_nO! yOU SHOULDN'T THINK BAD THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF, yOU'LL HURT RUFIO'S FEELINGS._

So, Tav straightened his back a little and forced himself to look at the cocky girl in front of him. His expression suddenly a mixture of nerves and determination, Vriska seemed shocked.

"Ooooooooh, Nitram's got some guts a8out him all of a sudden? Well good for him. Clap clap clap. No, really Tavros. I'm glad you've 8ucked up for once."

She smiled... Almost kindly. It was such a strange thing to see upon her face. Yet, before Tavros could reply she held out her hand.

"Lucky for you Toreasnore, I know exactly what's going on here too. You're sleeping! Take my hand Nitram and we can get out of here together. ::::D"

Tavros blinked.

"i, i AM?" He stuttered.

That would explain the random ass bugs that he couldn't control though... He had put it down to surprise earlier, but when he'd been in that room there was no way of communicating with those insects. All they seemed to have on their mind was... eating.

Tavros shivered at the memory.  
Yet, Vriska just continued to smile, holding out her hand and nodding her head in confirmation. She said nothing. And Tavros suddenly didn't need convincing. He had been here so long he felt he would go mad if he stayed any longer.

He reached out for her hand.

There was an abrupt slapping sound, then, and his hand was cast away much to both Vriska and his own surprise. Between the two of them, a creepy looking shadow appeared. It didn't really have much of a shape yet, though it looked to be forming one as Tavros stared at it with an open mouth.

Slowly, he backed away. This couldn't be a good thing.

Vriska's head snapped away from the shadow to glare at Tavros with a scary intensity.

"Hurry Tavros, we don't have all day. We really need you to wake up, like right a8out now would be nice!" She snapped.

Something was really really wrong, but once again Tavros couldn't put his finger on it.

"Tavroooooooos. Don't 8e such a gullible ignor8mus."

The nervous Taurus found his eyes drifting over to origins of the new voice... The shadow.

It was forming into the shape of another Vriska! As if it wasn't bad enough that there was one of them, now there was a second, smirking away with that awfully mischievous look in her...

Hang on.

Tavros looked back at the once-sleeping-but-now-wakeful Vriska. There was no malice in those eyes.

The newly-formed Vriska rolled her eye, and growled at him,

"C8me 8n Tore8dum8ass wh8t ar8 you w8ing for! It's m8re than 8nsulting th8t you w8uld ever cons8der that h8deous th8ng to 8e me."

The venom in her words hit home more than Tavros cared to admit. It suddenly hit him what was so strange about the Wakeful-Vriska. She was... kind of _nice_. Well, not nice like Terezi or Kanaya, but nicer than was typical of her.

Shadow-Vriska was glaring at him too now, begrudgingly holding out her hand,

"I can tell what you're thinking Nitram. You're a8out to pick me right? Do you know how I know this? I'm having to manipul8 you right now 8ecause you're 8eing a fucking loser and you won't wake up! Don't make me waste more energy on you than I already have and just wake up already dum8ass." She snarled, but seemed slightly calmer, as if she really did know that Tavros was going to pick her.

He found his hand outstretching towards her...

"_NO_!"

A demonic voice came from the location where Wakeful-Vriska once sat upon the table. Now, sitting there was a demon. It was human-skin coloured, but it glowed with an aura of red, just like it's pupil-less eyes. It's hair was wild and black, flowing out behind it as it's aura intensified, and it's body was contorted and distorted like something you might see in an amusement park fun house mirror.

It grabbed Vriska by the neck between two incredibly long, sharp looking claw-like fingers.

Her scream of pain and surprise resonated throughout the tiny room...

Vriska felt her feet being lifted off of the ground, and the moment the cry left her mouth, she lost her concentration.

She wasn't in Tavros' weird-ass dream anymore. Instead she was back in the original room, the one in which Tavros still slept, although his face had contorted into one of horror while he continued to dream.

"_YOU BROKE THE RULES_!"

The demonic voice spoke again, but Vriska couldn't see the demon. She'd seen it from the moment that she had entered Tavros' dream unintentionally. Yet, he seemed to think it was her somehow! How insulting.

However, now as she floated 10 ft in the air, she realised that it must be a being that ONLY existed in Tav's dream. Or at least, was only visible there. She couldn't see him now and that was unnerving enough, but he was still managing to choke her while she was wide awake.

"L-let g-go..." She croaked.

"_THE RULES STATE THAT_ _PLAYERS CAUGHT HELPING ANOTHER ON AN OPPOSING TEAM MUST FACE PUNISHMENT." _The voice continued, an invisible arm drawing Vriska closer so she could feel the chill-inducing breath of the demon on her face, but only to the extent that made her wonder if she'd imagined it.

"W-what are you t-talking a8out?" She managed.

The demon wasn't tightening it's grip which was a blessing because it was just barely... well, _bearable_ at this point.  
Her hands, which had been gripping onto the claws while she was in the dream had suddenly fallen to her side. There was nothing to grip anymore.

Well, this wasn't fair was it? A creature that could manipulate both real and dream things yet could not be touched outside of a dream...

Wait.

If it couldn't be touched while someone was dreaming about him, then surely the answer was to wake up the dreamer? But Vriska had already tried _everything_. There was just no waking Nitram up.

Her finger brushed up against something sharp then, drawing a tiny bit of blood. Vriska had to strain to look down, and was only just able to see the tiny, yet sharp, glass shard in her hand. It must have gotten caught on her trouser leg when she was scratching her way out of the last room! And now it was in her hand, a viable weapon.

She raised it at an awkward angle and she tried not panic. She only had one shot at this and the demon was already starting to tighten it's grip.

She threw it.

It grazed Tavros' cheek and drew the tiniest prickle of brown blood.

A sharp little pain on Tavros' cheek was nothing to draw him out of the fog that was now surrounding him. Shortly after Vriska had vanished, the room they had been occupying was slowly beginning to dim. It was scary at first but Tavros' heart was so preoccupied with fear for his, uh, friend, that after a while he welcomed the warm darkness.

Yet, shortly after the prick-which-meant-nothing, Tav felt something trickle down his face. Blood. He was bleeding... Why?

Suddenly, as he began to question his whereabouts, his memories, his feelings and most importantly why he was bleeding, the room started to lighten at a startling speed.

He'd become so comfortable in the darkness that he'd forgotten so much, he'd refused to think about painful and scary things and that had left him numb. Yet, with just one question, he was able to re-open the floodgates which was his consciousness.

He needed to wake up.

Vriska needed him to wake up.

He closed his eyes tightly and concentrated really hard. He needed to wake up. He needed to wake up. He needed to-

Tavros jerked forwards on the table just in time to see Vriska fall to the floor. Her theory had been half right - the creature from Tavros' reverie definitely no longer existed inside the dream... It was now real and right in front of them.

It had turned to face Tav now, watching him with soulless glowing red eyes. No. Not watching _him_, but the blood on his cheek. The demon took a deep breath as if smelling something.

_"THE ARISAEMA IS AWAKE..." _It sighed.

The trollian boy jumped off of the table and ran around to the other side, putting a useless wooden obstacle between them. Yet, as if entranced, the demon continued towards him.

"_YOUR BLOOD... SMELLS NICE. JUST LIKE YOUR NAMESAKE... I'VE NEVER TASTED ARISAEMA BEFORE..."_

Tavros whimpered as the demon loomed over him.

"Urgh, stop talking!"

Suddenly out of nowhere, Vriska lurched between them, pushing Tavros out of the way and flipping the table as hard as she could at the monstrosity.

She didn't have any weapons but she was ready to fight anyway.

The table bounced right off it, without leaving a single scratch. The demon snapped out of it's little trance and towered over Vriska, it's aura turning a murderous red.

"_THAT IS THE SECOND TIME YOU HAVE BROKEN THE RULES HYDRANGEA."_

It grabbed her, this time engulfing her whole face in his palm and lifting her off her feet again.

It looked to Tavros.

"_LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU. FIND YOUR GUIDE AND LEARN THE RULES, IGNORANCE IS A FLAW NOT AN EXCUSE."_

And before Tavros could even scramble to his feet and help her, Vriska and the demon vanished in a puff of red smoke. So he was left, once again, with his hand outstretched...


	6. Chapter 6 - A B100bell

**Chapter 6 - ****A B100bell in a field of Roses.**

The fresh air caught his attention as he took in his surroundings. The lush grass which was flattened under his heavy shoes and the vibrant colours flooding through his cracked glasses reminded Equius of Earth's beauty.

The bright wood wasn't very dense but he still found himself having to bat away branches which obstructed his path(each time in doing so however he ended up ripping the whole branch off of the tree).

Although this seemed like a nice safe haven for Earth creatures, none could be seen.

He made his way to a clearing in the middle of the small wood. He thought the wood had been bright, this in comparison was almost blinding. He shaded his eyes with his arm while they took a while to adjust, even through his glasses.

The sight in front of him was even more beautiful than before. The green grass contrasted nicely with the many colours of the flowers which covered the ground neatly. The light reflected off of a small lake which waters rippled in the pleasant breeze.

The light... Where was it coming from? Equius looked up at what he expected to be sky, but was met with only rust coloured rocks, suggesting that he was currently underground. How did the plants grow so well then? And from where was the source of the illumination?

All Equius needed in this moment was a towel, that is what he went to find. How did he manage to get here anyway?

He sighed before making his way to the lake, he would have to wash away his perspiration with the fresh water.

Kneeling down, he removed his glasses, lifting the water in his cupped hands and rubbing them over his face. The coolness of it was refreshing, but after having cleaned his face, he once again opened his eyes... What was that green blur he saw floating around in the water?

He let his curiosity get the better of him and reached down to grab the mysterious object. It was a lot closer than he had anticipated, his hand collided straight in the middle and he was met with a hard object, surrounded by a green material, he grasped at it and pulled his hand towards himself at great force. He pulled the heavy thing to shore... and gasped in realisation.

The thing he had dragged up, the soaking wet green and blue mess that felt cold to the touch and daintier then he last remembered was his own moirail. Nepeta.

He laid her on her back and grabbed her limp shoulders and shook as gently as he could.

"D- Nepeta? Nepeta I order you this instance to stop this. I command you to wake up! Now"

On closer examination, he noticed that she wasn't breathing.

He had to revive her, although it was obviously apparent that her dream self was dead, he needed to try, for her sake.

He began leaning down, hand steadying himself while placed on the Leo's chest, he didn't get far in this though, as when he was about halfway down (taking his time, this was obviously making him feel uncomfortable) the girl coughed very suddenly, spewing out a considerably large amount of water.

She pushed everything out of the way in a sort of panic. Leaning on her hands and knees the poor troll spewed up the rest of the water that had made its way to her lungs.

Once she had finished, she sat back down and looked over to her saviour. Equius reached to grab his glasses, putting them on to hide the relief in his eyes, he didn't want to seem so weak in front of someone of a lower class. She didn't seemed to care as much though as she pounced onto him and hugged him tightly.

":33 oh equius thank you fur saving me! i thought i was done for! where are we?"

Equius stood up and brushed himself down.

"D- I'm not really sure where e%actly we are. I a%identally stumbled a% this strange, yet beautiful location."

":33 *ac stood up too and looked at your wrist* oh wow! you have a bracelet too!"

The Sagittarius looked at his right wrist to see a blue bracelet tightly fitting it. When he lifted it up, Nepeta lifted up her left, revealing a much more loosely fitted red bracelet on hers.

":33 together we look a bit like Solicks huh? *ac giggle at her observation*"

"D- Do not compare me to such a low b100d. It is disgusting"

Nepeta only rolled her eyes at this response, she wasn't really expecting any different, having known him for so long.

At that, a wall, visible through a parting in the trees, started rumbling, the carved patterns (which were hard to make out as they were so faint) slightly glowed as the wall moved, creating a whole for someone to walk though.

Equius grabbed the feline-inclined troll by the hand and dragged her behind a tree. He didn't know who it was but he couldn't be too cautious, his moirail had already nearly died today.

"AND ONCE AGAIN, ARIA, I AM URGED TO BELEIVE YOU ARE SPEAKING UTTER BULLSHIT."

"..."

"THAT'S NOT THE FUCKING POINT!"

Equius peeked his head around the tree to see his leader walking through the clearing, looking to his side and talking to himself, using hand gestures to get his point across. Had he finally gone mad?

Nepeta squealed quietly beside him, excited to see someone else.

":33 who is karkitty with? :3 she looks nice! ooh purrhaps they know where we are!"

She didn't wait for an answer, instead she just skipped over Karkat and surprised him a pounce-hug.

":33 hey there karkat! who is this grrrrl you are with?"

She looked at the air beside Karkat and holds out her hand, rocking from her heel to her toes in a playful manner. You wouldn't have guessed she had been drowning not even five minutes ago - except for the fact she was still pretty wet.

Karkat looked down at Nepeta's wrist to notice the red bracelet, then looked back up to her face.

"NEPETA, I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD EVER HEAR MYSELF SAY THESE WORDS BUT I AM ACTUALLY GLAD TO SEE YOUR STUPID FACE THIS ONCE. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW FUCKING LONG I HAVE BEEN POINTLESSLY WALKING AROUND THIS GODDAMN PLACE TRYING TO FIND SOMEONE. THIS IS ARIA, SHE IS A GUIDE BECAUSE IT SEEMS WE ARE PLAYING ANOTHER GRUBSUCKING GAME AND WE HAVE TO BEAT THE BLUE TEAM, BY WORKING TOGETHER AND OTHER DUMB SHIT LIKE THAT."

He gestured his hands at the nothingness beside him. There was a silence before he spoke again.

"WELL IF YOUR NAME WASN'T SO GODDAMN LONG THEN MABYE I WOULDN'T BE FORCED TO SHORTEN IT, FUCKING DEAL WITH IT."

Equius thought this a good time to join the two of them, as crazy as they were acting. Still, he made his way to them cautiously. He only got about halfway until both of their eyes snapped to his.

He swore he heard someone speak, a well mannered woman, although there was no one else in the room who could have said anything.

"Bluebell... Rose, he has broken the rules. Your friend is in grave danger."

It seemed he wasn't the only one who heard it, Karkat's eyes darted back to the imaginary woman, his eyebrows raised.

It was easy to see everything add up in his mind.

His eyes slowly trailed over to the lake, then to the very wet cat-girl in front of him, then to her left wrist, then to the Sagittarius's right.

Finally, when Karkat's eyes came back to rest on Equius' face, he almost looked scared for him.

"WHAT HAVE YOU FUCKING DONE?!"


	7. CHAPTER 7 - AN IMPOSSIBLE PROMISE

**CHAPTER 7 - THE ROSE MAKES AN IMPOSSIBLE PROMISE**

Equius seemed to be shocked, sweat drops making another appearance on his forehead. Actually, scratch that. He was practically dripping in perspiration but Karkat would really fucking prefer to pretend he hadn't noticed that. Karkat knew he couldn't blame the guy - how could he have known that helping someone in the opposite team was against the rules? Hell, it's not like he could even be expected to know about the teams themselves let alone that this was a dangerous game they had all been dragged into.

He had tried his best to explain everything he knew to them. Aria had taken her sweet fucking time describing the rules to _him_ and now it was his turn to relay the message. But you could bet on his bone bulge he'd give the abridged version. No-one had time for _that _crap.

":33 so, what youre saying karkitty, is that equius and I are not on the same team?" Nepeta asked with a slight tilt of the head, as if she didn't fully understand the severity of the situation.

Well, did she ever really?

Karkat sighed.

"THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM SAYING. BUT REALLY? IS IT THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND? DIFFERENT COLOURED BRACELETS = DIFFERENT TEAMS."

"D- But what you have implied is that because of this segregation I should have left Nepeta to drown in that lake"

Karkat stiffened. No. Of course he didn't want that...

"N-NO. WHAT I AM IMPLYING IS THAT NEPETA SHOULD DAMN WELL HAVE TAKEN BETTER CARE TO NOT PUT YOU IN THE POSITION WHERE YOU HAD TO SAVE HER IN THE FIRST PLACE."

Damn it all this was all coming out wrong. He could see he'd hurt Nepeta's feelings, and he instantly felt bad for it. Equius was glaring at him behind those broken shades of his as if he'd insisted that his blood were burgundy or something.

He raised his hands in half-hearted defeat and took a deep breath.

"LOOK. ALL I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THERE ARE RULES HERE THAT, IF BROKEN CAN MEAN DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR ALL OF US..." His mind, despite his best efforts, drifted back to the vision that Aria had forced upon him. He shuddered inwardly, and continued, "FIRST OFF, DON'T HELP THOSE ON OPPOSING TEAMS. SECOND, YOU NEED TO WORK TOGETHER WITH YOUR TEAMMATES TO ESCAPE. GETTING OUT OF THIS UNDERGROUND HELL HOLE IS ONLY POSSIBLE IF ALL YOUR TEAMMATES ARE WITH YOU... RIGHT?"

He turned to Arianwyn with a frown, looking for confirmation that he hadn't missed anything out.

Strangely, the girl glared into his eyes for a moment before re-masking herself with that hideous-tribal-demon-face and nodded.

"Also, you must complete the tasks assigned to you along the way. Failure to comply will result in a forfeit." She added, sounding slightly muffled but retaining her sense of mystery rather well.

"D- Please, would you be so kind as to e%plain to me who this person is that you keep talking to? I do not see anyone else"

Equius seemed to have calmed down enough to ask Karkat a simple yet strange question in a civil manner.

":33 what do you mean equius? arirawr is purrched right in front of you." Nepeta responded, looking to both Equius and Karkat for answers.

The red-blooded troll threw Arianwyn another glance, clearly asking her to elaborate on the subject for the three of them.

"I am the red team's guide. Therefore only members of the red team are able to see me." She replied simply.

"CAN HE HEAR YOU THOUGH OR DO I HAVE TO BECOME THE FUCKING RELAY?"

Suddenly Aria stiffened and glanced down at Karkat in one movement so swift he was surprised she didn't snap her neck.

"I would not advice you do anything of the kind Rose. The Labyrinth would certainly view that as cheating if you directly assist him in correspondence with me. The only reason you have been able to tell him this much is because you are also in the presence of The Olive. You would be pushing your luck if yo-"

":33 So what does this mean fur Equius, Karkitty?"

Nepeta looked downtrodden, as if it was suddenly hitting her what this might actually mean for her and her "meowrail". Before Karkat was able to answer her though, Aria stepped up.

"It means you will have to fight."

Karkat and Nepeta blinked.

"WHAT"

Arianwyn glanced at him, seemingly patient with his ignorance but behind her mask she was secretly rolling her eyes.

"I have already told you Rose, to come into contact with someone from the opposing team means you must battle. Either that or you abscond."

Nepeta began to growl,

":33 i will nefur fight Equius! how could you even purrgest such a thing!?"

Karkat nodded in agreement while Equius glanced between the two of his friends in confusion, clearly feeling as though he missed something.

"YEAH ARIA. NEPETA'S RIGHT, THIS IS BULLSHIT. I'M THE LEADER OF THIS TEAM RIGHT? SO I SAY THERE WILL BE NO FIGHTING."

Aria looked as though she were about to argue back when Karkat quickly interrupted,

"WOW WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT? SEE HOW OVER THIS CONVERSATION IS? IT'S SO OVER THAT IT TURNED INTO A FUCKING BRIDGE. NOW WE'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE AND A NEW CONVERSATION MUST BE INITIATED. HMMM, HOW ABOUT WE SERIOUSLY DISCUSS WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO NEXT AND LEAVE ALL THE STUPID NOOKSUCKING IDEAS ON THE OTHER SIDE?"

Arianwyn raised her eyebrows, not that any of them would be able to see her do so, but she did anyway. She straightened up again, something Karkat was quickly coming to realise as an action defining her anger. He glared back at her, challenging her to go against him on this...

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Trees and plants alike shuddered underneath their feet and as shocked as Karkat and the rest seemed about this abrupt earthquake, Aria, who had been shaken to the ground in her unpreparedness (consequently knocking the mask from her face) looked horrified. She had her red eyes trained to a particular point in the canopies of some nearby trees, but before Karkat could figure out what she was looking at the shaking stopped. And all hell broke loose.

He was suddenly surrounded by a thick grey gas that seemed to be emanating from some huge, alien-looking flowers nearby. He coughed and scrunched up his eyelids, trying to both see through the fumes and keep them out of his eyes. It was no use. He rubbed his eyes while calling out for Nepeta and/or Equius, asking if they were alright, asking where they were, but the smoke seemed to muffle everything and although he definitely heard some replies he couldn't quite catch what they were saying.

There was a silence that stretched on for what seemed to Karkat like forever...  
And then, all at once the voices seemed clearer.

"So you are saying that I just have to kill the two of them and then I may leave?"

Came the sound of Equius' voice.

"Indeed. Kill the leader first then come back for the Olive."

Arianwyn's voice whispered in reply. Yet, despite the quiet and subtle slyness to her tone, it was so clear that Karkat didn't even have to strain to hear it.

There was another moment of silence. Then, out of no-where, Equius came charging through the smoke at Karkat, having him stumble backwards a little, forcing him to dodge to the side.

"EQUIUS WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU ASSHOLE!?"

Nepeta was standing well within reach of the smoke, yet somehow it avoided her like the plague, literally stretching around her so it would not make contact with her still semi-drenched skin.

Karkat was not far from her and although the smoke was certainly cloudy, she could still see clearly through it. Yet Karkitty was rubbing his eyes, and Equius had actually taken off his shades to squint into the fog as if it was impossible to see within it.

"NEPETA? EQUIUS? WHAT THEY FUCK IS GOING ON ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT? I CAN'T SEE SHIT."

Nepeta called back with a slightly shaken up, ":33 i'm purrfectly fine Karkitty, i'm just over here!"

Yet, he didn't seem to hear her.

She looked over to the wild-demon lady on the floor and noticed, as she got up, the burn marks all over her back. They stretched from each shoulder blade and zigzagged haphazardly across her spin, following it down to the small of her back. Yet, as soon as she got up, she let her long mass of white hair fall back and cover it all up again. Nepeta shook her head, now was not the time to get distracted.

":33 what is happurrning arirawr? why are you doing this?" She demanded, looking almost angry as she retrieved her kitty claws from her strife specibus.

Arianwyn lifted her hands in a half-assed display of surrender.

"I didn't do anything Olive. It wa-"

"EQUIUS WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU ASSHOLE!?"

The two girls turned towards the source of the furious sounding voice - Karkat. He was dodging attacks left and right and shouting profanities at Equius...

Who, on the other hand was stood nowhere near him, but looked just as angry, arguing with himself under his breath.

":33 w-what's hapurrning?" Nepeta repeated.

"I believe it is the smoke... perh-...purrhaps it is hallucinogenic?"

Nepeta couldn't tell if Aria was making fun of her or if she was just trying to be funny. Either way she wasn't particularly impressed.

Suddenly Karkat seemed to snap, retrieving his sickle from his strife specibus he instantly leapt into action and charged towards Equius. The Sagittarius didn't just wait around to get hit either. He threw a crazy powerful punch that grazed Karkat's left shoulder as he dodged at the last minute. The poor troll cried out in pain as the bone in his shoulder surely shattered.

":33 no! we need to stop them!"

Nepeta was horrified as she rushed towards the smoky area with her claws at the ready. The smoke continued to weave a path for her, until she was suddenly pulled back by a hand on her shoulder.

Aria had been taking advantage of the space around Nepeta which was void of the gas and had stuck close. Yet, when she had begun to move out towards the fight Aria seemed taken aback by the sudden activeness. She grabbed her for a few reasons but the Leo suspected that part of it had to do with self-preservation.

"Do not go to them Olive. It is better this way."

Nepeta couldn't believe what she was hearing.

":33 better!? how could this be better!?"

Aria pointed to the distant canopies, in it she could see a shadowed outline of what seemed to be an incredibly grotesque body, and the glow of red eyes much like Aria's...

Before Nepeta could ask what the heck that thing was supposed to be, Arianwyn smashed her palm against the feline-inclined girl's forehead.

_Karkat, Equius and Nepeta refused to fight one another.  
The ground shook and they were all shocked.  
Karkat noticed some previously closed flower blossoms opening and a strange smoke-like gas began to emanate from them...  
Getting a bad feeling, he grabbed both of his friends by the wrist and pulled them out of reach until the shaking stopped and the smoke finally faded away._

_Aria called out in horror, telling them to run.  
Then, a creature descended from the tree-tops, a demon that sent shivers up and down Nepeta's spin. It rushed towards Karkat at blinding speed and with one slash of it's giant claw-like hands, he collapsed into a pool of candy red blood._

_Before Nepeta could scream or Equius could do anything, the monster appeared behind him like a ninja. Equius was dead before he could even turn around._

_Nepeta sank to her knees in terror.  
The demon moved ever so slowly closer to her, bearing it's red and indigo blood-drenched talons..._

":33 stop it!"

Nepeta pushed away from Arianwyn with a cry, panting and crying slightly.

"I'm sorry Olive. It is just that from time to time, when a decision can cause the future to go one of two ways - A Crossroad to be precise - the Labyrinth gives me the ability to see both outcomes. I was just trying to make you feel better. This way, at least one of your friends can live correct?"

Nepeta shook her head in disbelief. Is that what happened if you disobeyed the rules here? _That_ was the kind of punishment they could expect? Then what could she do!? She had to do _something_ or else her friends would...

She looked away from the fighting, she couldn't bear to watch this.

Her attention turned towards the lake from which she had just recently been pulled. Strange... The smoke was stretching out and around that as well... It was as if...

She looked down at herself, she was starting to dry out a little, and the gas surrounding her had begun to move inwards. Could it be...?

Suddenly her resolve hardened. She glared at Arianwyn with a new focused determination.

":33 *ac refuses to let either of her friends be responsible for the other ones death. She believes we can all fight whatever demons come our way together*"

Aria blinked in surprise, but before she could even process this sudden change in the way Nepeta was speaking, the feline had bolted out of range.

She managed to grab a scruffy and beaten down Karkat by his left wrist in mid jump-attack. He cried out in pain as she pulled on it, causing his shattered shoulder to throb excruciatingly.

She continued to pull anyway, dragging him towards the lake, and in one quick jump the two of them were tumbling into the water.

Karkat gasped the moment he surfaced from the freezing cold waters. Nepeta was spluttering and struggling beside him, still clutching his wrist in a death grip.

He quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards the shore which she instantly clawed up with the help of her weapons.

It was strange... But suddenly Karkat's head wasn't as foggy. He certainly hadn't been spared from the horrible pain in his shoulder and the ache from the other wounds he'd gained in his short battle with Equius. Yet for some reason he wasn't nearly as angry as he'd been moments before and for the life of him he couldn't remember why the fuck they were fighting in the first place.

Yet, clearly Equius still wasn't placated in the slightest. He marched towards them, dripping in sweat but his stance was murderous as he tensed his muscles by clenching his fists.

"FUCK"

Nepeta, already out of the waters and well aware of Equius' oncoming approach grabbed Karkat again (this time taking extra care to pull on his right arm instead). She pulled him out of the lake and together they began running towards Arianwyn who had covered her face with her mask again, clearly hoping to block the gas that way.

":33 arirawr we chose to abscond, so open up that wall or something!" She cried as she ran.

Aria hesitated for only a moment before rushing back to the wall that her and Karkat had entered through, pressing her hand against the pattern in graved into it that, once again, matched those on her clothes, the wall lit up and moved aside.

Before they were all safely on the other side, Karkat caught Nepeta taking one last look at the raging Equius charging towards them with a pained expression before letting the wall close behind them.

Nepeta couldn't bring herself to tell Karkat everything, even after she had explained what she had seen in the previous room. Specifically, she refused to go into detail about the vision Aria had forced upon her - it hurt too much to think about.

Karkat on the other hand could guess from what she _had_ said that she had probably experienced the very same thing he had, he instantly felt bad for her. It was bad enough for him, but she was dragged from one nightmare into another and then straight back to the first.

Needless to say he didn't force the issue.

"HEY AT LEAST, THANKS TO YOU, WE ALL GOT OUT ALIVE. NOT TO MENTION YOU SPECIFICALLY HELPED ME SO THE STUPID GRUBSUCKING LABYRINTH CAN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU BREAKING THE RULES OR ANYTHING." He said, awkwardly poking Nepeta's shoulder trying to cheer her up.

Aria, on the other hand, seemed to be completely socially inept as she came out with a swift,

"He may be alive for now Rose, but the Bluebell has yet to atone for saving The Olive's life. His punishment is still withstanding."

Nepeta stiffened and Karkat sent Aria a death glare. It shut her up but Karkat suspected she still wasn't completely aware that she had said anything wrong in the first place.

"HEY DOUCHEBAG, HOW ABOUT YOU DO SOMETHING USEFUL FOR ONCE!? CAN'T YOU FIND THE OTHERS AND TELL THEM THE RULES OR SOME SHIT SO WE CAN MINAMISE MORE FUCKING CASUALTIES BECAUSE LET ME TELL YOU MY SHOULDER IS DEFINITELY BLAMING YOU FOR KEEPING ME SO UNDERINFORMED!"

There was a moment of silence before Aria replied with a quiet,  
"Yes. I can do that."

Karkat blinked in surprise.  
"YOU CAN? THEN WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME? YOUR LEADER ORDERS YOU GO DO THAT YOU FUCKING DUMBASS."

Arianwyn made a noise that sounded almost as if she were groaning in disgust. But she vanished into thin air nonetheless moments after the order left Karkat's mouth.

Once they were finally alone, Nepeta let her back slide down one of the stone walls, drawing her legs towards her chest and resting her face on her knees.

":33 I'm so sorry karkitty... this was all my fa-"

"DON'T YOU EVEN FUCKING DARE PLAY THE BLAME GAME WITH ME HERE NEPETA," Karkat interrupted, kneeling in front of her and causing her to raise her head and meet his eyes,

"WE ARE ALL GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE TOGETHER. I PROMISE."


	8. chapter 8 - a riiddle 2olved

**Chapter 8 - a riiddle 2olved, a friiend 2aved**

The wall slides to the left , emitting a loud rumbling sound. The two walk through the whole and the wall closes again after them. The trees around them reach great heights, towering over them as they walked. It was very dark in this room, the light blocked by the thick tree-cover, but occasionally the light seeped though the gaps, creating small spotlights all around them.

"Your falling behind you know?~" Beravon sang into Sollux's ear, causing the troll to turn to him displaying a confused expression.

"what do you mean by that?"

"The red team leader has already found one of their teammates. But you haven't seen anyone at all." He chose his words carefully, only giving him certain information.

"well theiir 'guiide' i2 probably more helpful then you, you 2aiid you could 2mell them all, cant you lead me to them?" Sol replied, but Von just countered that with a smirk and looked ahead.

"Well, what do we have here?~"

Sollux's eyes shot to the front of him and he was met with the sight of a familiar figure. A figure whose trouser leg was snagged on a low hanging branch and whose long horns pierced slightly into the ground. Fingers were draped along the "forest" floor but the idiot in front of them kept a chill smile, which grew wider when he saw his good friend.

"HeY ThErE My bRoThEr! CoUlD YoU MayBe HeLp a mOtHeRfUcKeR oUt? :o)"

After taking a quick look a Von (having the sudden realisation that he had actually been helping him the entire time), Sollux sighed and walked up to the troll, he knelt down in front of him and grabbed his right wrist. Sure enough there was a blue band clasped tightly around it, which gave Sol the confirmation he needed.

A red and blue psychic aura emitted from around Gamzee's body as he was lifted from his spot and slowly turned around. Soon enough he was placed securely back on his feet again.

"GZ how on earth diid you manage that?" The yellow blood questioned, unable to think of a scenario where one could end up hanging upside-down in an underground tree.

"I DoN'T MoThErFuCkIn kNoW BrO! oNe MiNuTe i WaS SlAmIn sOmE FaYgO AnD ThE NeXt miNuTe i wAs fAlLiNg dOwN ThIs tReE HeRe."

Before Sollux had time to answer, a the sound of a small bell rang in the three teammate's ears. A short vibration from the guide's pocket.

"What great timing!" Beravon reached into his back pocket and grabbed a shiny black apple IPhone, "It looks as though you have been assigned your first task."

After he lightly pressed the power button, the phone lit up and he swiped the lock screen. The text came automatically,

"... ummm, well, this is unexpected." He said, smirking and not really looking very surprised, "It seems you have to go on a treasure hunt." He added after reading.

Sollux opened his mouth to speak, but Von beat him to it, pulling out two slips of paper from thin air and handing one to each of the two trolls.

"Basically you have to find what is on that paper and bring it back to me before the time runs out."

Just as he finished describing, Von's phone lit up again, this time without his instruction. It didn't show the lock screen either, but a timer. Counting down from 15 minutes. Von groaned when he found that he couldn't even escape from the screen.

"I suggest you start quickly, like I told you earlier Dandelion, if you don't complete the challenges, the punishment is severe. "

Sollux merely scoffed and walked away, he heard his guide talk to Gamzee for a bit, asking him if he understood the task. Gamzee told him not to worry, and then Von easily started to flirt with the juggalo, saying that he had the sweet smell of a lavender.

Sol looked at the slip in his hand. Printed in a strange messy font were the words: 'I get carried, even when not being touched. I can fly but have no wings. I help keep them alive but they lose me every year. I change colour when I die, and die with all my brothers.'

"damn iit a riiddle."

The troll rolled his eyes... well he would have done if he had pupils. Instead he settled for a grumble of dissatisfaction.

Sol walked through the forest while deep in thought. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't guess the answer, nor see anything that resembled something that he might have to "find".

_iif thii2 ii2 hard for me, GZ ha2 no chance!_

This seemingly easy task was quickly becoming a real pain in the butt, but Sollux had expected something a bit harder... maybe this Labyrinth wasn't going to be so hard to complete afterall.

The sudden sound of violent flapping snapped Sollux out of his thought process. He looked up to see a black bird flying off of the branch it was perched on, flying out of the tree cover. A single feather came floating down, landing in front of his miss-matched shoes.

He bent down and picked it up between his thumb and fore-finger on his left hand. The paper in his right started to shake violently causing him to avert his attention to that instead. The messy text had turned a deep red, telling the boy that the feather was not the correct answer. As soon as he dropped the jet black feather, the text turned black again.

Sol stood up again and went on his way, non-stop thinking of possible solutions to the riddle, but consequently ruling them out one by one.

About 7 minutes had past and he had begun to really panic. With no leads and the clock surely running down, he had to get his head in the game... not that is wasn't there before, but he really needed to concentrate... Concentrate Sol you fucking retard, concentrate!

He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, walking aimlessly deeper and deeper into the forest, he was starting to contemplate which way he had came from... what he going in circles? Was he traversing further away from Von or closer? He didn't know, but he hadn't gotten the mystery item either, so that was kind of irrelevant at the moment.

Suddenly, his foot got caught under a tree root and he tripped up, head over feet. Dropping the paper a few inches away from his fingers. And as if his luck couldn't get any worse, a random gust of wind picked up and carried the paper with it. Sollux scurried to his feet.

"2hiit!" He yelled as he ran after the slip.

Wasting another minute or two, he finally caught the fly-away paper and held it close to his chest as he collapsed onto his knees. He was used to sitting at his husktop desk all day. He was _not_ used to running... at all.

He sat there for a moment. Letting it all sink in... His paper being carried by the wind... flying... without any wings...

He stared down at his paper, but he realised the rest of it wouldn't apply, paper doesn't live let alone die. So, what else was light enough for the wind to carry it? But something that dies and changes colour...

As if the forest was trying to help him, a single leaf flew past his ear, gently falling down and into his lap.

Yes, this was it. The trees lost leaves every year, and when they died, they changed to a crispy brown and littered the floor. He picked it up like he had the feather before, but this time he took the utmost care, as if this delicate leaf could crumble to his touch. Sure enough, the text on the paper turned a leaf green.

He jumped to his feet in success (sort of pissed that the mystery item was a simple fucking leaf) and started running back to his guide in an estimated direction. He knew time was running out and that he needed to get there _fast_.

After running for a few minutes, he was getting low on energy but he needed to get back to Von ASAP (he never thought he would be saying that).

"Dandelion! Over here!"

Sol heard a familiar voice call his 'nickname'. He turned to his left and saw two figures in the distance through the trees. He made a sharp turn and sprinted to his team-so-far.

On getting close he tripped for the second time and collided with Beravon's chest, knocking him down like a bowling pin.

"Wow, Dandelion, your being quite forward!" He said with a wink.

"2hut up BV and take thii2 you piiece of 2hiit" He stood and brushed himself off, handing the flirtatious jerk the leaf and the paper.

With a flick of his finger, the paper and leaf disappeared into thin air, similar to how it appeared in the first place.

"With a minute to spare, well done."

Sollux then turned to Gamz,

"GZ! What are you doing here?! Have you even looked for your iitem yet?!"

"CaLm dOwN My bRoThEr, I FoUnD My iTeM AgEs aGo" Sollux sighed with relief.

"Yeah, I was just laying out the rules to The Lavender, so everything is clear. Isn't that right sexy?" Von leaned to the side so he could clearly see Gamzee around the team leader.

"ThAt iS HoW ThInGs wEnT BrO, tHeN I SuGgEsTeD We tHrOw dOwN SoMe sTrIcT BeAtS BuT My BrOtHeR HeRe sAiD No. :o) HoNk"

"Yeah... Well anyway, the clock stopped, so you made it."

Another bell sounded and the phone in his hand vibrated. After reading the new text, he spoke up again. "And it seems you get a reward..."

_fuckiing fiinally! iit2 about glubbiing tiime we got one!_

After he'd finished reading, Von's face turned uncharacteristically serious. He continued,

"But I suggest you listen to my advise as to how to use it. So, it seems that already one of your teammates has cheated, and is being punished-"

"2erket? Oh my gog plea2e tell me _2he_ ii2nt on my team." He groaned, his head snapping upwards as rubbed his face with both hands. He assumed it was her as soon as Von had mentioned 'cheating'.

"_The Hydragea _didn't mean to cheat. But she broke the rules and has been punished for it." He continued as though the interruption hadn't occurred. "But The Bluebell has also broken the rules and is soon to be punished, so I strongly suggest you use this prize to lift the punishment off of their shoulders."

"Cant you u2e theiir real name2? We have no clue who you are goiing on about." Sollux replied.

"Well, I only bothered to learn your name, so I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. But either way I suggest you do as I advise."

"Ok mOtHeRfUcKeR, wE WiLl hElP ThIs bLuEbElL MoThErFuCkEr oUt, rIgHt SoLbRo?"

"ii 2uppo2e a2 the leader ii am obliiged two put my teammate2 safety fiir2t 2o go ahead. "

"Great," he typed out a text on his phone before putting it in his pocket, "so... I guess it's time we move on."


End file.
